UVS: A Novel Underwater Vehicle with Integrated VCMS-Thrusters Hybrid Architecture for Enhanced Attitude Regulation
Suohang Zhang, Shipang Qian, Ruiheng Liu, Lu Wang, Xinyu Fei, Yanhu Chen
Abstract
Autonomous Underwater Vehicles (AUVs) require energy-efficient and responsive attitude control for underwater operations. We present UVS, a novel underwater vehicle that combines Variable Center of Mass System (VCMS) and thrusters for hybrid attitude regulation. Through multi-objective optimization of the VCMS structure, we achieved a 5.19% larger pitch angle range while reducing space occupation by 15.72%. Pool experiments demonstrated near-linear pitch control from 17.5° to 172.5° with stable horizontal-vertical mode transitions. Our proposed collaborative control method integrates VCMS and thruster advantages, enabling rapid convergence to target attitudes with long-term stability. The results show UVS’s potential for energy-efficient, wide-range attitude control in mobile ocean sensing applications.
BibTeX
@inproceedings{iros2025_uvsanovelunderwa,
title = {UVS: A Novel Underwater Vehicle with Integrated VCMS-Thrusters Hybrid Architecture for Enhanced Attitude Regulation},
author = {Suohang Zhang and Shipang Qian and Ruiheng Liu and Lu Wang and Xinyu Fei and Yanhu Chen},
booktitle = {IROS 2025},
year = {2025}
}